The Final Redemption by Michael Manning (little red riding hood ebook free .txt) 📕

to compare the sensation to, but ifI’d been forced, I would have likened it to ahangover—The worst hangover imaginable,and then you start slamming your head against a wall.

The power of the explosion itself, Iheld onto, carefully assimilating it within myself. I doubted itwould be enough to make a difference, but I decided I wouldn’tthrow any chance away. The more power I had, the more likely Icould survive what was coming.

Six or seven Celiorsnow, I thought to myself, estimating whatI must have after stripping Chel’strathek of his aythar.Mal’goroth must have more than forty, possiblymore than fifty.

My experience in Albamarl had taughtme one thing. People add up. I had slain several thousand menthere, taking their lives in the most direct way possible. Whileeach had been a relatively small meal, as a whole their aythar hadbeen considerable.

This started when I slewthe army of Gododdin, said my innerobserver. Thirty thousand men, gone, andtheir families afterward, taken by Mal’goroth. That was when my foe had become too powerful to stop. Thatwas what had given him the strength he needed to overpower hissiblings and take their power for his own.

“I would have to slay halfthe world to gain the power to defeat him,” I told myself, and fora moment my mind considered attempting it. No, my conscience argued,this ends here. As usualmy conscience was a killjoy.

Then I remembered Peter. “There’s nogetting away from that anyway. I’m on borrowed time now,” I saidaloud. Somehow the thought made me feel better, no matter whathappened, my part in all this would soon be over. The end was insight.

Having a final stopping point ahead ofme gave me a certain kind of strength. “I’m free to spend the nextfifteen minutes or so any way I choose,” I said to reinforce theidea. Penny and the children flashed through my mind. My firstchoice would have been to see them one last time. “But that’s notan option. Some doors have already closed.”

I could feel Mal’gorothapproaching now, flying in at a leisurely pace. He was taking histime. Probably savoring the moment—theasshole. A thought occurred to me then,and I reached for my pouches. They were gone. My armor was gone aswell. The destruction of the stasis enchantment had burned awayeverything on my person.

I was naked.

“Son of a bitch,” I cursed, morebecause of the inconvenience than the possibility of embarrassment.Those pouches had held a plethora of handy tools, most notably mysilver stylus and in this instance my staff.

One of the conveniences of power, whenyou have it in quantities that can be measured in Celiors, is thatsome extraordinarily wasteful uses of said power are no longerquite as important. I had enough power to simply manufacturethings, creating them from pure aythar itself. However, I stilldidn’t want to waste the aythar.

A minor illusion provideda semblance of clothing. Doubtless Pennywould complain about my choices, I thoughtwith a chuckle. She regularly disagreed with my fashion sense,mostly because I didn’t really have one.

On a whim, I changed the doublet andhose I had chosen at first, to a plain homespun robe. I consideredjust a loincloth, but that seemed a bit silly.

Manipulating the wind, Irose a hundred feet to survey the earth below. Despite my effortthe explosion had leveled the terrain for probably a quarter milein every direction. I wondered how many livestock had lost theirlives. Think of the sheep!I almost started giggling. I could feel the edgesof my mind skittering away in the distance.

With a conscious effort Ifocused my attention. You only have a fewminutes, don’t waste them losing your sanity, cautioned my imaginary friend.

I nodded in agreement. Iwould have replied mentally, but I worried he might get confused,since our thoughts sounded the same. Ormaybe he isn’t as easily confused as I am?

Shaking my head, I openedmy hands and imagined my fingers as rune channels. It was anenchantment I was intimately familiar with, so it didn’t take mucheffort. Looking down, I saw that they were now elongated, and eachof my digits was ringed in perfectly arranged runes.That should work, Inoted.

Then I began to draw.

I was still at least a hundred feetup, so the ground below was like a great sheet of blank parchment.Creating the shapes from my current vantage point was far simplerthan I would have expected. I drew lines and circles, ringing themwith symbols and geometric shapes. It was rather like fingerpainting.

That’s utterly mad,observed my more sensible counterpart.

“Only if you expect to survive. I’mjust having fun,” I told him.

It will certainly piss himoff, came a thought that had a smileattached.

***

Mal’goroth was much better lookingthan I remembered. He had forsaken his horns and extra limbs for asimple human shape. The only extravagance I could see was a lovelyset of ivory wings. They had an almost iridescent shine in themorning sun.

He flew toward me with a knowingexpression, his sense of smug satisfaction so strong that I felt itas a palpable force in the air.

“You look well,” Icomplimented.

“You also,” he responded, through asparkling white smile. “Though I can’t say much for your taste inclothes. Is this a product of some previously unseen humility? Ihad not thought you so modest.”

His remark provoked a bit ofintrospection. “I think perhaps the robe is a reflection of myfavorite self-image,” I answered.

“Novitiate priest?” he asked injest.

“No. I’ve had a lot of roles andtitles in life. I’ve been a peasant, a nobleman, and even kingbriefly,” I said.

“What about a god?” suggestedMal’goroth.

“I suppose, but I don’t think ofmyself that way,” I explained.

“What then?”

“I think my favorite role was fatherand husband, but I can’t claim those anymore. Archmage was the mostinteresting, but my transformation to my current condition robbedme of that. This would be the best of what I have left,” I repliedenigmatically. I’m sure it annoyed him as much as it always had me.I had fought a lot of long-winded villains over the years. It wasmy turn now.

“Idiot?”

I sighed. He just had to ruin themoment. “Wizard,” I said in irritation. “I have only wits and magicleft.”

“You have none of the former and toolittle of the latter,” said my exquisitely beautiful foe. Heaccompanied the insult with a probing burst of